


Clemency

by cutsycat



Series: Dictionary.Com Word of the Day Drabbles [1088]
Category: NCIS
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-15
Updated: 2018-07-15
Packaged: 2019-06-10 22:17:00
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15301215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cutsycat/pseuds/cutsycat
Summary: Tony doesn't know how it happened, but he wakes up to find himself tied up. Is anyone looking for him? Gibbs won't be, he'd been planning to leave to go sailing after Abby's party. Can Tony rescue himself? Or does he need help? How did Tony end up here?





	Clemency

**Author's Note:**

> Another dictionary.com word of the day drabble. This time from 04/23/2002 for the word [clemency](http://www.dictionary.com/wordoftheday/2002/04/23/clemency).
> 
> clemency  
> Disposition to forgive and spare, as offenders; mercy.  
> An act or instance of mercy or leniency.  
> Mildness, especially of weather.
> 
> This is for prompt #2 of the March 2018 Five Prompts Challenge located [here](https://ncis-discuss.livejournal.com/137502.html).
> 
> As always comments, kudos, and constructive criticism are greatly appreciated. I'm not completely happy with this story, but I hope you guys will like it nonetheless.

# 

Clemency

Tony opened his eyes and only saw water in front of him. He tried to move only to find himself tied up. He listened, but didn’t hear anyone, so he looked around as much as he could with his limited range of motion.

He couldn’t see much in the pitch dark of night, but given the water below him, he assumed he’d been tied to a bridge. He couldn’t stop the song I’m with you by Avril Lavigne from going through his head nor could he stop the correlations his mind was making between his predicament and the song. Oh, he was relatively certain the song wasn’t written about his current situation, but it fit it way too well. 

He wasn’t exactly standing on the bridge, but then he wasn’t sitting down either. It was definitely dark and he was definitely waiting for rescue. He didn’t know if anyone had even noticed he was missing, yet, but he’d thought Gibbs would have been here by now.

The guy always seemed to have a sixth sense about when things were wrong with his agents. The rain trickled down on his head. There’s nothing but the rain, indeed. 

He could hear nothing. No footsteps on the ground. He was listening, but there was no sound.

Isn’t anybody trying to find me? Won’t somebody come take me home? It’s a damn cold night, trying to figure out this life. 

Seriously, how was this Tony’s life? Who the heck even kidnapped him this time? He couldn’t remember anything. 

Why is everything so confusing? Maybe he was just out of his mind, The last thing he remembered was going to a party at Abby’s. 

How did he end up here? He didn’t even remember having anything to drink. Of course, that’s when the bridge started to move. 

Wait. How was the bridge moving? Crap. He wasn’t tied to a bridge. 

He was tied to a boat that until now had been moored at the Marina. This night just kept getting worse. If he ever survived this, Gibbs was going to kill him. 

Wait. Gibbs. There was no way Gibbs would be coming for him. 

Gibbs had planned to leave on vacation after Abby’s party. Tony was sure that Gibbs was long gone by now. There’s no way that Gibbs would have noticed Tony was missing before he left and decided to postpone his trip.

Tony didn’t bother screaming. What was the point? Whoever was driving the boat was undoubtedly the person who had tied him to it. 

Instead Tony started trying to work through his options. He still had his belt knife and his boot knife, but he couldn’t reach either with his arms pressed so tightly to his sides that he couldn’t really move them. Still the knowledge that they were there gave him hope. 

He started, slowly so as to not injure himself, moving ever so slightly just enough to try to get some slack in the ropes, so that he could free himself enough to reach a knife or somehow get himself out of this getup. It took hours, the sun was starting to rise over the horizon, but finally Tony got one arm free enough to grab his belt knife. They were over some pretty deep water, so Tony didn’t just quickly cut himself free.

He was a decent swimmer, but he had no idea where he was nor which direction was shore. At this point in time, his best bet was to get aboard the boat. Of course, that wasn’t going to be easy. 

It wasn’t like they had just left handholds that he could use to climb up there. Then there was the problem of dealing with whoever was on the boat, which likely wouldn’t be easy either. Before Tony freed himself, he’d have to figure out a decent plan and hope that they didn’t check on him before then. 

He hadn’t heard anyone come out on the deck the whole time he’d been tied here to the figurehead. Tony decided to chance it. Carefully cutting himself free, Tony clambered up the side of the boat above the figurehead. 

Fortunately, the figurehead was a big enough monstrosity that he could use it to reach the top of the railing for the boat. He couldn’t believe that this boat still had a figurehead. He was pretty sure they’d died out in the 1800s from research he’d done on boats due to his crush on Gibbs. 

Of course, Gibbs’ boats still had figureheads. Well the ones that Gibbs didn’t burn at least. Tony wondered who else still had boats with figureheads.

Moving quietly, Tony made his way towards the cabin. He assumed that whoever was here would either be relaxing in the cabin or the steering compartment. The cabin was more likely to contain a useful weapon than the steering compartment, so he started there.

He still had his knives, but he didn’t want to depend on them. Not only were they more likely to inflict a fatal wound, which could be a bad idea as he didn’t know how to steer the boat, but they were always intended to be a last resort and he’d returned them to their normal locations. He wanted to find something else that could be used if needed, so that he could continue to keep the knives as a last resort, hopefully without his captors figuring out that he had them.

Tony stopped stalk still in the doorway to the cabin. He hadn’t expected that. Right in front of him was a naked Gibbs, who appeared to be jacking off. 

What the hell was Gibbs doing on this ship? Had Gibbs kidnapped him? Was Gibbs also kidnapped?

If Gibbs was kidnapped why was he masturbating? Tony was completely confused as to what had happened to him, now. Lost in his thoughts, Tony startled out of them as Gibbs moaned his name.

Was he on candid camera? Was this real? Was Gibbs making fun of him?

He’d had a crush on Gibbs for a while and despite his attempts to hide it, he was pretty sure that most of the team knew. Gibbs probably knew too. Had Gibbs realized he had an audience and moaned his name purely for his benefit?

Or had Tony really caught Gibbs’ masturbating to the idea of Tony doing something to him? Tony slumped against the door, sliding down to the floor. Gibbs immediately glanced over at the noise.

“I must be further gone than I thought.” Gibbs muttered to himself before shrugging and going with the fantasy that his mind had conjured up for him. He knew there was no way Tony was actually on the boat with him since he’d set off from the Marina alone. Tony wouldn’t have stowed away if he were going to come with. Tony always made sure Gibbs knew he was there when he joined Gibbs on his boat.

“Are you just going to sit there and watch?” Gibbs’ eyebrow quirked questioningly as he continued to jerk his cock with his hand.

Tony blinked and looked up at Gibbs. Gibbs knew he was there and was inviting him to join in? “Is this a trick?”

“How can I trick a figment of my own imagination? Now, are you joining me or not?”

Now, Tony really didn’t know what he should do. Should he move to the bed. Gibbs clearly thought he was just an illusion. Would touching Gibbs break the spell Gibbs thought he was under?

Was a one night stand with Gibbs worth whatever the consequences would be when Gibbs realized that Tony hadn’t been a dream? Did he dare take the chance? Shuffling slowly towards the bed, almost zombie-like, Tony still wasn’t sure that this was the right move to make, but he couldn’t stop himself when Gibbs was laid out before him like that and clearly wanted him.

When Tony neared the bed, Gibbs reached out and tugged him down onto the bed. “Oof. You’re pretty heavy for an illusion.”

Tony didn’t bother to respond. He was here now and he was going to take advantage of it by pulling Gibbs into a kiss. Gibbs’ hand dropped away from his cock as he grabbed the solid feeling Tony and instead rocked his cock against Tony’s body.

Gibbs didn’t like the feeling of clothes against his cock and started yanking on Tony’s clothes to get them off. He couldn’t help feeling like something was off. This all felt too real for a dream, but he wanted it too much to stop and examine what was going on.

When Gibbs finally freed Tony’s cock, he crowed in triumph and immediately lined both of their cocks up against each other and started fisting them together. Tony moaned and couldn’t help thrusting with Gibbs. Gibbs’ cock on one side and Gibbs’ hand on the other and the friction was so sweet that he couldn’t stop himself from crying out Gibbs’ name.

Neither of them was trying to hold back and it wasn’t long before they both tumbled over the edge into orgasm as Gibbs’ worked both their cocks, twisting and pumping them with his hand. They collapsed sated against each other, but it didn’t last long for Tony. Gibbs quickly fell asleep, but Tony lay awake worrying.

He didn’t know if he should stay with Gibbs or leave. He was kind of stuck on the boat with Gibbs, but it didn’t seem like Gibbs was a prisoner, so he didn’t know what to make of this. How had he ended up on this boat?

What was the reason behind tying him to the figurehead of Gibbs’ boat? Was this a prank? Was someone making fun of him?

Pretty much everyone on the team knew of his crush on Gibbs. Had one of them gotten tired of the unresolved sexual tension and decided to try to force them together and see what happened? What did it mean that Gibbs was happy to believe that Tony was a dream?

Did that mean that Gibbs actually wanted a relationship with him? Or was this just sex? Or even worse was Gibbs exploring an unknown attraction to guys and Tony was just someone Gibbs thought about exploring gay sex with and not actually into?

The guy had been married 4 times. If that didn’t scream straight, Tony didn’t know what did. Was this a sexual identity crisis that Gibbs was undergoing?

He seemed pretty confident during their jerk off session for a man possibly exploring the idea of being gay. Tony didn’t know what to make of any of this. Even worse, he didn’t know if he should leave Gibbs’ bed and pretend it didn’t happen or stay and force them to talk.

He needed to make up his mind soon though. He was sure Gibbs wouldn’t sleep that long. Frankly, he was surprised that Gibbs had fallen asleep so easily.

Sitting up, so that he could make a quick escape if needed, Tony jolted in surprised when Gibbs murmured, “Tony? You’re never here when I wake up. Am I still dreaming?”

Tony’s eyes widened in the classic deer in a headlights look. He didn’t know what to say to that. His lack of response jolted Gibbs fully awake though. 

“DiNozzo? What are you doing here?”

Tony shrugged. “You got me, boss. Last thing I remember is being at Abby’s party. Then I woke up tied to your figurehead. Why do you still use a figurehead boss? I’ve always wondered since they seem to have gone into disuse for the most part.”

“I always liked the look of them and it was Kelly’s favorite part of the boat, so I’ve continued to put them on each of my finished boats in honor of her.”

Tony nodded, touched by Gibbs sharing that with him.

Gibbs didn’t wait for Tony to say anything else though and cut in to Tony’s thoughts, “What do you mean you don’t remember how you got here? I’m pretty sure you weren’t on my boat when I set off. I always do a thorough inspection.”

Tony shrugged. “I don’t know what to tell you. One minute I was at Abby’s party. The next I found myself tied to your figurehead.”

Gibbs frowned. He was worried about the fact that he’d found DiNozzo in his bed with his stomach sticky with come. However, he had to put that to the back of his mind for now. Figuring out why and how DiNozzo had gotten on his boat was more important. 

He didn’t think they were in danger, but it’s possible that someone was targeting Tony or him and that this was a warning as to what they were capable of. Gibbs wouldn’t be able to rest until he got to the bottom of what was going on. Unfortunately, with them out in the middle of the water they didn’t have cell signal.

He did have a radio that matched the ones the Marina controllers had, but when they didn’t even know if this was malicious or not calling in help like that seemed premature. “Let’s take it one step at a time like we would with a victim. Tell me exactly what you remember last.”

Tony closed his eyes thinking back to Abby’s party and what he remembered there. “I was drinking with Tim. I’d had enough to drink to be tipsy, but I wasn’t drunk, Gibbs. I needed a refill and was going to switch to water.” 

Gibbs gestured for Tony to keep going.

“On my way to get a bottle of water I was interrupted first by Ziva. She dragged me onto the dance floor for a dance. I continued on my way to get a water bottle only for Abby to appear in front of me with a water bottle.”

“And then?” Gibbs probed, wanting to get to the bottom of this so that they could be done with this discussion and hopefully life could go back to normal without getting complicated because of whatever had happened between him and DiNozzo.

“I took the water bottle and gave up on trying to get my own. I trust Abby, you know. I then headed over to talk to Ned and that’s literally the last thing I remember before I woke up tied to your figurehead. They left me with my knives, so they didn’t search me very well or didn’t care if I had them.”

Gibbs steepled his fingers as he thought about Tony’s predicament. It was sounding more and more like someone had spiked Tony’s drink or otherwise done something to make Tony forget what had happened between the party and Gibbs’ boat. Of course, it was also possible that Tony was dealing with retrograde amnesia. 

“Did you feel off at any time during the party?”

Tony shook his head. “I mean it was weird that Ziva wanted to dance and Abby didn’t have to get me the water, but she was hosting so it wasn’t weird. Nothing seemed off about Ned or Tim. You were there. Did you see anything strange?”

Gibbs shook his head immediately. He hadn’t been paying much attention at the party. He’d been more focused on his boat trip. 

He’d been doing his typical wallflower thing and not talking to many people and he’d left as soon as he could. There really hadn’t been a chance for him to notice anything. He’d mostly hung around Abby and Tony and watched the team. 

He hadn’t really been interested in mingling with anyone. Still that made it hard for him to help figure out what had happened to Tony. If they had cell signal, he’d have just called Abby and asked her, but they didn’t.

“Ok. If neither of us noticed anything, let’s try looking at this from a different angle. What purpose could there be behind tying me to your boat?” 

“Someone is targeting one of us and snuck into the party to play mind games with us?”

Tony shook his head, “That doesn’t make sense. Everyone at the party was either an NCIS agent or spouse of one. Why would any of them be targeting us or warning us that someone else is targeting us in this manner?”

“Well what other reason could there be?”

“Maybe they were trying to hook us up?”

“Why would they do that?” Gibbs wrinkled his forehead in confusion.

Tony wanted to bang his hand against his forehead. Was Gibbs completely oblivious to his feelings for him? Even when they were in bed together covered in come?

“They know better than to incur my wrath.” Gibbs continued, “Do you really think anyone would dare to try and set me up?”

Tony coughed. “Really? Have you met Abby? She has you wrapped around her finger so much, she wouldn’t think twice about incurring your wrath. She’d just bat her eyes at you and inform you that she just wanted you to be happy.”

“Abby isn’t strong enough to lift you though, so she would have had to have help? Who do you think would be brave enough to help her and risk incurring my wrath?”

Tony shrugged. In truth, he suspected a number of people were willing to take a chance if it meant less bastard Gibbs because he was getting laid regularly. He didn’t want to throw anyone under the bus and incur Gibbs’ wrath on them unnecessarily. “Abby is the only one I know for sure would be willing to chance your wrath to get us together.”

“Us? You really think there could be a relationship between us?” Gibbs growled, but inside he was hopeful that Tony wanted him as much as he wanted Tony.

Tony, however, took Gibbs words as there was no chance for them and Gibbs would never be interested in him that way. “Of course not. But that doesn’t mean that others don’t. We’ve been partners longer than any of your marriages, after all.”

Gibbs frowned. He couldn’t deny that, but that wasn’t exactly the answer he was hoping to hear. He didn’t know what to think now. 

Maybe Tony didn’t like him, after all. Why did they have sex if Tony didn’t like him though? Gibbs didn’t understand what was going on at all.

He’d gone to bed alone and woken to his dream lover next to him with all appearances of them having sex. Yet, Tony didn’t seem to be showing any signs that he wanted a relationship with him. Had it just been a one night stand to Tony?

How the heck had Tony ended up tied to his boat in the first place. He always walked around his boat to make sure everything was still in good condition before he set off. The only way Tony could have gotten on his boat if Tony didn’t sneak on himself is if someone was watching Gibbs do his walk around and had waited until after Gibbs had checked the figurehead and then quickly tied Tony to it. 

It didn’t make any sense. That’s when Gibbs remembered that there had been someone around when he did his walk around. McGee had followed him out to the boat and had been asking a ton of questions about his boat and Gibbs had been distracted on his walk around because of it.

McGee and Abby were thick as thieves, so she could have easily talked McGee into distracting him. McGee had to have been practicing those questions. Gibbs never suspected that he was just trying to distract him.

“It has to be McGee and Abby if they were trying to hook us up. McGee was asking me all kinds of questions about the boat when I did my walkaround. I think he was purposefully trying to distract me, so that I wouldn’t see you on the figurehead. Are we sure there’s no other motive behind tying you to the figurehead?”

Tony nodded. “Pretty sure. Nothing else makes sense. I guess we’ll have to tell Abby and McGee they failed when we returned.” Tony shrugged as if he didn’t have a care in the world, but really what Gibbs thought about their relationship meant everything to him.

”Perhaps, but that will have to wait. We have some sailing to do first. I’m not planning to turn this boat around and go back early. So you’re stuck here with me.” Gibbs couldn’t help throwing out the practical ultimatum. Tony usually made a big deal out of the small things and kept quiet about the big things. Tony seemed too nonchalant, now. 

Maybe he did have a chance with Tony. One of them was going to have to man up and give a hint though or they’d still be right where they started when this trip was done. Gibbs didn’t feel that he could be the one to make the move given he was technically Tony’s superior, so forcing him to remain on the boat was about all he could do.

Tony was starting to get a bad feeling about this. If this was the result of Abby and Tim, there was no way that the two of them hadn’t set up some sort of surveillance. He wondered what other surprises the two had in store for them. 

Tony was done with this conversation. He didn’t want to try to figure out if Gibbs had feelings for him or not. “I’m going to go shower.”

“No shower on the boat.” Gibbs grinned. He liked the idea of Tony wandering covered in come. Would be better if it was his come, but he’d make do with what he had.

Tony rolled his eyes. “Fine. I’m going for a swim.” Maybe by the time he had dried off, Gibbs would have gotten tired of the mind games. 

Of course, Tony knew that the real mind games hadn’t even started. He truly dreaded what more Abby and McGee had up their sleeves. He wondered if Gibbs even realized how much trouble could befall them at Abby and Tim’s hands. 

After his swim, Tony moved to towel himself off. He paused with his hands holding the towel above his head as realization dawned on him. “Does this place even have a second bed?”

“Nope.” Gibbs replied. “You can sleep on the deck or in my bed. Your choice.”

“Sleep?” Tony couldn’t help questioning. Gibbs seemed a little too happy about how trapped Tony was. It wasn’t even Tony’s fault that he was here, so Tony wasn’t sure what kind of revenge Gibbs was trying to go for.

Gibbs shrugged. “We’ve done it before for cases. Shouldn’t be a problem.” Gibbs knew what Tony was really asking, but he wasn’t willing to admit anything at this time.

This was going to be hell. Tony just knew it. If he tried to sleep on the deck, he could practically guarantee that something would be rigged to go off that would make sleeping there miserable and force him to sleep in Gibbs’ bed.

He didn’t know if he could handle sleeping next to Gibbs without touching him though. This was going to be difficult and who knew what would break first. He still wasn’t sure what to think about Gibbs.

The man was an expert at giving hot and cold shoulders. Thinking him a dream lover should be a plus, but even faced with the evidence of what they did, Gibbs seemed to want to ignore it. Tony just didn’t understand what was going on in the man’s head. 

He decided to chance it and sleep on the deck the first night. That was before the temperature dropped and he started shivering uncontrollably. Still thinking he could handle it, Tony went in search of a blanket. Unfortunately, since Gibbs hadn’t been expecting company the only blanket was on the bed. 

Tony’s eyes flitted between Gibbs’ sleeping form and the extremely cold deck. He probably couldn’t even blame this one on Abby and McGee. With a sigh, Tony slid into Gibbs’ bed and tried to go to sleep, severely hoping that he wasn’t making a mistake.

He woke to find Gibbs’ cock buried against his fortunately still clothed ass and Gibbs’ humping him in his sleep. Was this seriously his life? Was he just a warm body in Gibbs’ bed or did the guy actually want him?

Tony had no clue. He held extremely still, stiff. Which, of course, woke Gibbs up when he realized his partner no longer seemed willing. 

“Damn.” Gibbs whispered to himself. Clearly, Tony really didn’t want him. That sucked. 

Gibbs watched Tony shiver still lying there in bed and couldn’t make the man leave, so instead he offered, “Sorry. I’ll go sleep on the deck.”

“It’s too cold out there for anyone to sleep,” Tony protested.

“Don’t worry about it. I’ve done it before.” Gibbs would rather die of cold than sleep with an unwilling partner. 

Tony rolled over and stared at Gibbs as he left the bed. Sometimes he really wished Gibbs came with an instruction manual. One minute the guy was all about fucking him and the next he was gone. 

How was Tony supposed to figure out what Gibbs wanted with these kinds of mixed signals? Somehow, Tony knew things were just going to get worse. Sure enough the next night, Tony had no clue what was making all the racket, but it made sleeping on the deck impossible for either of them.

“It’s fine, Gibbs. We can share.” 

Gibbs stubbornly shook his head as he continued to try to find the source of the noise. Regardless of sleeping arrangements, Gibbs took pride in the boats he made and no boat of his should be making such a racket. Tony could have told Gibbs that he was wasting his time and that neither McGee nor Abby would have made it easy to find whatever device they were using, but he frankly didn’t see the point.

Gibbs would figure it out or he’d come to bed eventually. Tony curled up on what he was now coming to think of as his side of the bed and hoped for oblivion to come quickly. He didn’t expect to wake in the middle of the night and find Gibbs still searching for the device and muttering to himself.

“Seriously, Gibbs. Come to bed. You need your sleep. I don’t want to put up with your grumpy bastard self because you didn’t get any sleep.” Tony tugged on Gibbs’ arm, trying to get him to move towards the bed.

“It’s my boat. It shouldn’t be making those kind of noises.”

Tony rolled his eyes. “I’m sure it’s something McGee and Abby rigged to force us to sleep together and it will be gone in the morning if you come to bed with me now.”

Gibbs growled, but let Tony lead him to the bed anyway. Tony breathed a sigh of relief when he finally maneuvered Gibbs into bed and climbed in next to him. When Gibbs wrapped an arm around Tony’s stomach and pulled until Tony was pressed tightly against his body, Tony squeaked, “Gibbs?”

“What?”

“Why am I tucked under your arm?”

“You need sleep, too.” Gibbs grunted and pressed his nose into Tony’s neck before he fell into a dreamless sleep.

Tony couldn’t even move enough to look at Gibbs’ face. With a sigh, Tony tried to relax enough to sleep, but he couldn’t stop his brain from working. Gibbs’ behavior had sent it into overdrive and it wouldn’t let him sleep now.

If he could have moved, he would have left the bed and found something else to do until his brain stopped working on the Gibbs’ problem or he became too tired for even his brain to keep him awake. Alas, he was stuck, practically glued to Gibbs, and could do nothing, but stare into the distance and hope for sleep. You would think this would have made it easier to sleep, but it mostly just made Tony want to crawl out of his own skin.

Still even he had his limits and close to 2 hours later he finally drifted off to sleep. As Tony had predicted, the noise was gone the next morning when Gibbs awoke. He stared in confusion at Tony sleeping peacefully in his arms.

He’d been pretty zombie like by the time Tony dragged him to bed and hadn’t been at all conscious of forcing Tony to sleep with him. In fact, he didn’t remember going to bed at all and was a little confused as to how he’d ended up sleeping with Tony so close to him. Unlike the last time, Tony seemed peaceful and unbothered by Gibbs’ presence.

This also confused Gibbs. He didn’t understand why Tony had been so uninterested before and wasn’t bothered now. Gibbs had been hard since before he woke up, so he was sure Tony had been feeling his cock against his clothed ass for a while now.

Maybe Tony didn’t mind sleeping with men and it was just Gibbs that Tony didn’t want to sleep with? Gibbs didn’t know how to test this out without creating further friction in their relationship. He was almost regretting not turning the boat around immediately, but he’d thought that Tony would relax and they’d have fun like they usually did.

He didn’t really understand what Tony wanted or didn’t want as the case may be. Nor did he understand why Abby and McGee thought that they should get together so badly. As far as he could tell Tony wasn’t into him that way, so why did Abby and McGee think they would be good together?

Shaking Tony’s shoulder slightly, not wanting to startle Tony awake and trigger his wide awake agent mode, Gibbs hoped that he could get some answers while Tony was still half asleep that would tell him something. He knew it was kind of cheating, but this not knowing was driving him crazy. 

Tony yawned, “Boss?” Tony curled into Gibbs’ shoulder and tried to go back to sleep.

“Why do McGee and Abby want to force us to get together?”

“Why does Abby do anything?” Tony murmured sleepily, hoping that would be answer enough and Gibbs would let him go back to sleep.

Gibbs stared at Tony’s mostly sleeping form and tried to figure out what to ask that wouldn’t get him a question back. “Is there something Abby and Tim know that I don’t?”

“I don’t keep secrets from you, boss.” Tony murmured, still mostly asleep.

“But you’re keeping this one from me, why, Tony?”

“Thought you knew, boss. I’m in love with you.” Not even realizing what he’d said, Tony proceeded to fall back to sleep still being rather tired from his interrupted night and early wake up call. 

Gibbs mouth hung open in shock, which would have been comical if Tony had been awake to see it. As he wasn’t awake, Gibbs slipped out of bed and headed out onto the deck to think. He’d wanted proof that Tony had feelings for him like he did for Tony, but he’d never actually expected to get it.

On top of that, the way he’d gotten it probably wouldn’t win him any favors with Tony. So what was he supposed to do now? Did he continue to ignore it?

Should he try to woo Tony? How did he fix this? He was pretty sure Tony was so twisted up in his head that Tony wouldn’t be willing to make the first move.

Technically, Tony had made the first move, but Gibbs doubted that Tony would remember when he woke up. That left Gibbs with a tough decision. He knew his feelings were reciprocated now, but did he dare initiate a relationship.

He didn’t want Tony to regret it when he found out about what Gibbs had done. Could Gibbs prevent Tony from ever finding out about how Gibbs had played on his weakness? Probably not. Those kinds of secrets tended to come out. 

Tony, meanwhile, woke up alone in the bed, wondering if the conversation with Gibbs had actually happened or if it had been a dream. Tony really hoped that it had actually happened and that Gibbs returned his feelings, but he knew Gibbs hadn’t said anything in return even if the conversation had happened. He was really beginning to regret telling Tim and Abby about his feelings for Gibbs.

He was certain they would never have gone to these lengths to get the two of them together, if Tony hadn’t admitted to feeling something for Gibbs. While Gibbs had never admitted to feelings for Tony, both Tim and Abby had been certain based on the way Gibbs treated Tony that Gibbs actually felt something for Tony. No matter how Tony had tried to dissuade them, they’d been firm in their belief of Gibbs' feelings. 

Tony, however, was tired of walking on eggshells around Gibbs and just wanted to return to their normal working relationship. Well, really, he just wanted to know for sure one way or the other if Gibbs returned his feelings, but he didn’t see how he’d get more information about Gibbs’ feelings on this trip than he already had. With a sigh, Tony got dressed and headed out to face the music and hope that Gibbs wasn’t too pissed by Abby and McGee’s plotting.

Tony’s feelings had been unrequited as far as he was concerned for almost 10 years now. He really should just give up on Gibbs and move on, but so far he hadn’t been willing to without proof of Gibbs’ feelings or lack thereof. Musing to himself, he blinked in surprise when he saw Gibbs had made breakfast and even found a little table to set out for them to eat at.

“What’s the occasion?” 

Gibbs shrugged. “I learned something new about you that I didn’t know.”

Gibbs then proceeded to curse himself. He hadn’t meant to share that with Tony. It was probably good that Tony knew going into the relationship, but Gibbs didn’t know if this would end it before it even began.

Tony blinked, his head scrunching up as he tried to parse what Gibbs statement meant. “That wasn’t a dream, then.”

Gibbs shook his head no. “Not so much.”

“Why’d you do it?”

“I needed to know and didn’t think you’d tell me when you were awake.” 

Tony buried his head in his hands with a sigh. He knew this is what he’d be dealing with on a normal basis if he started anything with Gibbs. “What are you planning to do now that you know?”

“Well mostly that depends on you.”

Tony raised his head and looked Gibbs in the eye. “On me?”

“Yep. I’d like to try, but only if you want it, too.”

Tony shook his head, which Gibbs immediately took for a rejection, until Tony called him an idiot and grabbed his face, pulling him in for a kiss. Gibbs wasn’t complaining and eagerly returned the kiss. Not everything was solved with that simple declaration.

They still had a lot to work out, but at least they were finally on the same page. In fact, they’d resolved things enough before they returned to the marina that Tony’s natural clemency had kicked in and he’d already forgiven Abby and Tim for tying him to Gibbs boat and forcing them to sleep together. Which wasn’t to say that he wasn’t going to get them back for what they did. Gibbs had even promised to help.

**Author's Note:**

> While I wrote some more yesterday, I didn't get the next story written so there are only 3 more days of stories! I'm still hopefully that I'll get the next story written today, but if not by the time the 3 days are up. Wish me luck!
> 
> For any authors that want to chat and/or are looking for a place where they can toss plot ideas around and get input from people, you can come join my discord server that is specifically geared towards writing/encouraging people to write and authors. The invite link is [here](https://discord.gg/HFvwpCq). If you're not an author, but want to chat with me about writing/stories or anything else you are welcome to join. I reserve the right to boot you from my server if all you do is pester me about updates, however. *grin* Really anyone who wants to talk about writing and/or plot ideas for various stories is welcome to join. 
> 
> I've started a new [poll](https://cutsycat.livejournal.com/55450.html) regarding my series and which ones people most want to see continued in place of the Rapprochement series which I have brought to an end for now... 
> 
> Note: The Bishop Entanglement, Crazy Cat Tale, and Pregnant FBI Agent series will be continued no matter what, so you don't need to vote for those. For those who don't have livejournals just leave a comment with your responses. Thanks!
> 
> Also, I'm looking for some writing buddies. Full details are [here](https://cutsycat.livejournal.com/53610.html). It is friends locked, so you'll have to add me as a friend on lj before you can read it.
> 
> Also, Drakonyashka has translated a couple of my works into Russian. [Tutelage](http://archiveofourown.org/works/12378780) and [Imbue](http://archiveofourown.org/works/12378840). Go support them. 
> 
> My 2018 Prompt collection is now open [here](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/cutsycat_NCIS_Prompts_2018/profile). Just click the sign up link. ;)
> 
> If you are not an ao3 member, you can prompt me [here](http://cutsycat.livejournal.com/50701.html). Please follow the same rules as are listed in the above link. However, because this is a handmade prompt form(that thinks it's a poll), it is considerably more limited than what ao3 provides, so please use the ao3 form if you're an ao3 member. Please note the name option is for a name that I can say this is for so that you know it's for you. Since this is for non ao3 members it won't be true gifts, but you will be mentioned in the notes.
> 
> Feel free to leave feedback here if you think something could be improved(either in the prompt process or the story itself).


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